Recorded on 2021-07-23

Whether we like it or not we are living in an age of data; the world of chemistry is no exception

1970’s UofT analytical chemist, UofT Archives

Mobile robot chemist, Burger et al. Nature (2020)

Undergraduate labs need to reflect the reality of data-centric research, often they fail to do so

1970’s UofT undergraduate lab, UofT Archives

Modern UofT Undergraduate lab, UofT Media Bank

Teaching objectives


  • Explicitly introduce data analysis workflows and skills at the onset of intro chem labs (Excel, numeracy, graphicacy, etc.)
  • Apply these skills to the analysis of real world data

National Airborne Pollutant Surveillance program is an ideal source of real data for students

Peter Power, Toronto Star

We created videos and other material to introduce relevant atmospheric chemistry to 1st year students

J. D’eon, 2020

Students analyzed 7-day chunk of monolithic NAPS data; datasets and TA answers auto-generated with R

Instructions walked students through assignement & data analysis workflow

from Wickham & Grolemund, 2021

Ultimately students produces visualizations to help investigated correlation between [O3] and [NO2]

We created a Shiny app so students could explore beyond their assigned data & generate hypotheses

Screenshot of Shiny app

Student responses were positive and appreciative of the utility of lab content wrt other courses

Conclusions


  • Continuing with lab in post-Covid setting
  • Refining schedule/deadlines to alleviate burden on students
  • Expanding data analysis with R for upper-year courses

Questions